Crackpipe Ray Nagin Lambastes Fed Govt.-NOLA Still A Mess!

The BBQ Pit
121

It might interest you to know that you’re the one that throughout this whole thread has continually tied smoking crack to blackness. I suggest you get off your high pony and chill out. Calling someone a crack head is a commentary on the wacky shit coming out of his mouth, not on the color of his skin. I and people I know and work with have all used to appelation of the term: “Have you been smoking crack?”, “What, did you just come back from smoking the pipe?” “I think it’s time you took another hit off your crackpipe.”, etc. And that has been said by and to whites and blacks, along with Filipinos and Indians.

When I saw the OP I, logically, tied the crackpipe moniker to the shit he spews, not the color of his skin. Can you provide one single instance where “crackpipe” or some flavor of it has ever been hurled at a black man that was not thought to be talking crazy talk? It is a commentary on dumbfuckness, not color.

Take these statements:

Bush must have been hitting the pipe.
Powell must have been hitting the pipe.
Rumsfeld must have been hitting the pipe.
Cheney must have been hitting the pipe.
Condi must have been hitting the pipe.

or

That crackhead Bush.
That crackhead Powell.
That crackhead Rumsfeld.
That crackhead Cheney.
That crackhead Conndoleeza.

Do you really think any of these are a commentary on color, and not their words at a particular time. Or that they are more of an insult to the blacks on the list? If so, it might gladden you to know that not everyone thinks that crack and blackness are as closely associated as you evidently do. So, please stop insisting that everyone else is guilty of racist perceptions. They may be your cross to bear, it doesn’t mean it is everyone else’s. If you are hyper-sensitive to this being the is for some reason, fine. Then take solace in the fact that most people think “crackery” is linked to quackery, not color. Now if you don’t stop, I’ll have to put you in the ring with Crackpipe Ray Nagin, Ray Crackhead Mazelli, or Bobby The Crack Addict Collins.

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I apologize as well, and also to the people who are having a perfectly good discussion about New Orleans in the wake of catastrophe, who had to put up with miles o’ text interruptions.

Neither of us has managed either to convince or confound the other, but I don’t see any reason to pursue this elsewhere. The arguments have pretty much all been made, and if we can’t reach agreement, at least perhaps our thinking on the subject has been broadened and clarified somewhat. Mine has, at least, and for your contribution to that, I can honestly thank you.

Good night, Miller. Have a happy weekend.

123

Sigh.

Anybody ever say a naughty word in front of a toddler?

Anybody ever notice how much less cute than a toddler magellan01 is?

You missed the argument, magpie. Go to bed.

124

Awww, now you made me want to cry.

Does the mere sight of the word throw you into such a tizzy that it renders you unable to comprehend a question and answer it? You may want to put down the pipe and look up the term “hyper-sensitive”.

125

Ignoring the children squabbling, lisacurl, I understand exactly what you mean. Even though NOLA wasn’t “home” to me in the same way it is to you, I’ve moved around all my life and have never found another place I’ve lived that I fell in love with so hard and so fast. So coming to terms with the fact that it can never be the same is hard. Plus I’ve got a certain element of survivor guilt to cope with, too – I signed the papers to sell my house on July 29, one month to the day before Katrina. (The only good news is that the house came through intact and unflooded.) But knowing how much so many friends and former coworkers and neighbors and people I did business with all over the city had to go through has made dealing with the whole situation really difficult.

There really is nowhere like NOLA anywhere else in the world, is there? The NOLA that was, anyway; I fear that it may end up being the Disneyland version before they’re done with it now.

126

Well, maybe if your version of Disneyland has blocks and blocks of gutted abandoned homes with weedy yards and a bathtub ring around them…

That aside, I’m with you on the survivor’s guilt end of the spectrum. The area on the river levee - - Carrollton to Bywater - - is mostly back to what passes for normal around here. You can almost pretend the big K didn’t happen until you have to pass into or through Broadmoor, Lakeview, or the East. Then it hits you.

The flood stopped about 2 to 3 blocks from our house. Which means we get to have all our stuff, live in our house instead of a trailer, keep FEMA at arm’s length, and not have to worry about how to apply for the “Road Home” program. Even then, life is stressful and I cannot imagine how the people who lost it all make it through the day.

There’s some hope, though. Rock 'n Bowl is open for music. Angelo Brocato’s has an “Opening Soon” sign on the plywood up front. Mandina’s is remodeling. Deanie’s at the Lakefront stayed dry and is still packed for weekday lunches.

It’s not the same. But the spirit is here and people who are here want to keep the best parts of that spirit as the pieces get put back together. Let us know when you’re coming to town. We’ll throw the welcome mat out for ya.

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I just saw David Brinkley interviewed on TV last night. He just wrote a book about the Katrina disaster. He was there and it is his opinion that the liion’s share of blame lies with Nagin. For those interested, the book is titled The Great Deluge.

128

I know that Brinkley is a respected historian at Tulane. FWIW, I’m a somewhat more obscure scientist who, in addition to my day job, is an adjunct facutly member at Tulane. I don’t have a book, though.

My opinion and the opinion of most of my friends (some of whom are well-connected politically both locally and at the state level) is that there was an amazing vortex of stupid that surrounded the mayor, the governor, and the president after Katrina. This vortex kept immediate aid from being distributed and still keeps aid money from reaching New Orleans a year later.

The vortex in three parts:

**Part 1: Governor Blanco ** wanted all the federal assets she could get, but did not go about requesting them in the proper way (not that you should need a proper way, but we’re talking government here). Before you jump my ass, here’s an example: She repeatedly said “I need everything you’ve got” rather than “I’ve deployed all my National Guard assets. Please send me x-thousand National Guard from other states. These battalions should be equally split between military police, EMT, and regular infantry. They should come with MREs, water, and ice for 50,000 and should be deployed at the Convention Center and Superdome in 24 hours.” As a result, the feds knew she needed help, but beyond “everything you’ve got” they didn’t have much in the way of specifics.

After the storm, The Red Cross offered to put its assets at the Convention Center with food, water, and other relief supplies. What does the Louisiana Homeland Security Chief say - - No. We cannot guarantee your safety and we cannot assist you logistically. Oh, and we want the people to leave the city. They’ll stay longer if you feed them. HUH? It seems to me that the Red Cross is pretty savvy in working in the wake of disaster. Had I been chief, I’d have said, “It’s dangerous, but get down to the intersection of Tchoupitoulas Street and Convention Center Boulevard. You’ll have to deploy via the West Bank Expressway, which will take you about an hour longer to get there. Go.”

That’s just two examples of the state in the votex of stupid.

**Part 2: When President Bush ** When Bush arrived and saw how bad things actually were, he wanted to to federalize the operation, which would allow him and his people to assign the National Guard and active military with just minimal consulting with the governor. Now, maybe that’s because he could see that Blanco wasn’t doing too well. Maybe it was partisan politics. Maybe it was something else. Then again, is it really the job of the President to have a disaster mitigation plan in place for every semi-large city in the country? Seems to me that the mayor and governor are in charge of that, right? If they’ve failed, it’s time for him to step in, but he has to have the governor’s permission. She took three days. Three FUCKING DAYS to say no. So, he’s in the vortex, but exactly how stupid is up for grabs.

Part 3: Mayor Nagin was completely overwhelmed. The storm came on us quickly (as late as Friday evening the forecasters called for it to hit Florida) and New Orleans had barely 48 hours to get ready. Lots of things in the disaster play book didn’t happen. Opportunities were lost. Areas outside the mayor’s immediate control - - police, fire, EMTs, hospitals - - failed in various ways. Swim upthread for my comparison between NOLA and Manhattan. How much he failed before the storm is relevant, but afterwards he was dealing with a town that was 80% flooded, with no communications, no police, fire, EMT radio, no food, no water, no shelter, no evacuation assets, no nothing.

How could he fix anything at that moment? He was totally dependent on the State and Federal government, and they were arguing over who was to do what.

As for Brinkley’s book, my friends and I question his timing. He rushed the book to press - - it’s riddled with typographic and factual errors - - many think to support Mitch Landrieu’s bid for mayor. He makes passing reference to the vortex of stupid, but rather than share the wealth between the three clowns, he picks out the mayor alone for his ire. If he’s really the historian, why distort the situation? If he’s really all that smart, why does he mispronounce “Orleans Parish” as “Oar-luns Parish” (the city is New Awlins or New Or-luns or New Or-lee-uns but the Parish is Or-leans).

So… you out of towners can keep blaming Ray if that makes you happy. Not that I’m happy having his as mayor, but sheesh - - cut the guy a break. It’s not like you could have done that much better.

129

Well, I guees that settles that. A non-public servant on a message board couldn’t have done a much better job. But even that may or may not be true. I would, however, put good money on my not being able to do much worse of a job.

Of course there is plenty of blame to go around. But Nagin is an incompetent racist. The fact that he was re-elected is baffling and an embarassment to the people of New Orleans. If something similar happens and he fucks up again, that’ll be on those who voted for him. I won’t be writing any check this time, that’s for sure.

130

Ooops. It’s Douglas Brinkley, not David Brinkley.

131

Thanks for this post. The reasoned middle ground is sometimes the toughest row to hoe. Please ignore the knee-jerkers.

132

Just a thought exercise, then. You’ve recently been elected mayor of a town of 450,000, the infrastructure of which has been ignored by a corrupt political machine for the past 25 years. The public schools are so befouled by mismangement that they request parents also buy toilet paper for the children. The records in city hall are still kept on 3x5 notecards in pencil, no less. The tax assessment system is based on cronyism. Money to repair infrastructure such as roads, bridges, and water distribution and sewer systems has been funnelled to political hacks. Work gets done, but it’s not good work. Also, there’s a drug and crime problem. A big drug and crime problem. These problems disproportionately affect the black and poor, that make up approximately 50% of the population, since the affluent whites and blacks have either moved out of town or have insulated themselves from the problems through private education and, well, affluence.

Thankfully, you’re not corrupt, and you start making improvements on all fronts. However, you also have a potential flooding problem in the event of a catastrophic storm. Without relying on hindsight, which problems do you tackle first - - those staring you in the face, or those that might (or might not) happen in the next couple of years? Where do you first deploy your resources?

Then, just as you’re starting to get your feet under you, a category 4 storm develops in the Gulf, giving you 48 hours to evacuate your citizens and prepare for the worst.

You know that roughly 1/4 of your city’s population do not have cars, meaning that roughly 116,000 people needed some type of ride out of town.

Your disaster plan calls for using buses to get people out, but some things hamper your utilizing this asset. First, and perhaps most important, your predecessors didn’t require that Class C licensed drivers report to drive the buses. So you don’t have enough drivers on hand. Second, school bus capacity is 66 students. Likely they can hold fewer adult passengers due to the size differential between children and adults. For the sake of this exercise, let’s call it 60 persons - - people will have to squeeze in and they cannot take their stuff. Still, gven these figures, you would need around 1,750 buses or bus trips to get that many people out of the city.

Unfortunately, you only have 324 school buses and 364 RTA buses for a total of 688. That’s almost 1100 buses short. And not all RTA buses will hold 60 people. Also, to evacuate the population south and west of your city, interstate highways have been converted to contraflow. Buses that make it out cannot get back to get their next load.

And you still haven’t taken care of the hospital patients. And there’s nowhere to send the population as there are not shelters with the capacity to take everyone you would like to send.

You do have a sports arena that can accomodate those who stay and who want shelter. It’s not a great plan, but you can use it. You tell everyone who comes to bring 5 days worth of food and water. Some follow your advice, but others come with just a pack of cigarettes.

I’ll agree with the assertion that Mr. Nagin has played the race card. I’ll agree with you that since the water was pumped out Mr. Nagin has been incompetent. Please keep this in mind, though: more people voted against Ray in the primary than voted for him. Given that there were about 12 viable candidates in a field that I think was once in the low 20s, it should not be too big a surprise that the relatively smaller percentage of pro-Nagin voters ensured that he made it to the runoff.

Then New Orleans voters were given a choice between - - well, we didn’t have much of a choice. However, given the racial makeup of the city (60% black) and the pressure placed on the electorate by Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, and others, the outcome really wasn’t in doubt, was it?

That’s your prerogative and your money and it certainly makes no sense to throw good money after bad. Thank you for making a financial contribution in the first place. I’m sure it did some good for some person who’s just trying to live his life and recover and move on.

133

Yep. The only thing in the middle of the road is yellow paint and dead nutria and endangered woodpeckers. Thanks for the kind words. Drinks are on me (or beignets, or whatever poison your prefer) when/if you ever get down here.

134

The article I posted earlier claimed that 84% of the white vote went to Nagin, while only 40% of the black vote went to him.

I don’t know why people persist in saying that Nagin’s re-election was ensured by the predominately black populace. Assuming that the composition of voters matches the total population composition, Nagin actually received more white votes than black despite the underrepresentation of whites in the greater population. So apparently it was the white people who overwhelmingly voted the guy back into office, not blacks. But for some reason everyone is pointing their fingers at the black people when trying to explain the mystery behind his reelection. What is all this about?

135

Oh now, don’t be so goddamned sure of that, ok?

:mad:

Now, I absolutely admit that this article is a bit, shall we say, jaundiced in it’s approach? It is also impossible to deny the facts- that money donated by hard-working folks like some of the Dopers in this thread who have identified themselves as donors to the cause has gone to this man.

He is, without doubt, not trying to just live his life and recover and move on. And he’s doing this with funding provided by aforementioned Dopers.

136

So, you’ve found an example of a lazy, dishonest refugee. So what? Is this meant as some sort of a rebuttal to IvoryBill’s statement that a donation “did some good for some person who’s just trying to live his life and recover and move on”? You’re aware that this guy didn’t get all the relief fund money, right? A lot of it went to other people, too. Or is it your argument that all Katrina refugees are like this guy, and none of them deserve charity? Help me out, here, because I’m having a heck of time figuring out how your post is remotely relevant to anything that’s been said in this thread.

137

That guy makes me mad, too. I’m assuming that the donation check didn’t go to FEMA, who was paying that PITA’s bills, but to Red Cross or some other charitable organization. They got scammed, too, but not as badly as FEMA did.

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While I’m sure Potomac Watch is a fine publication, I’m going with the New Orleans paper:

"Political observers had speculated that to win a second four-year term, Nagin would have to quadruple his dismal 6 percent showing among white voters in the primary and broaden his reach beyond the almost 70 percent of African-American votes he earned in the April 22 contest.

"It appears the mayor executed that strategy in textbook fashion to earn 52 percent of Saturday’s vote, compared with 48 percent for Landrieu, whose challenge was to broaden his base of white voters and hang on to the 24 percent of black voters’ support he earned last month.

" ‘Both candidates received about 20 to 21 percent crossover vote, but the magnitude of the African-American base propelled the mayor to a victory,’ said Greg Rigamer, a political consultant who conducted his own analysis of Saturday’s balloting.

"Perhaps most indicative of the formula Nagin employed to retain his job, the mayor carried 224 of 229 precincts where at least 80 percent of voters are not white; most are majority African-American precincts with a few majority Asian. Landrieu, meanwhile, grabbed 71 of 80 precincts where at least 80 percent of voters are white.

"The swollen voter pool owed in large measure to an uptick in black voter turnout, which grew from 53 percent in the primary to 55 percent on Saturday, Rigamer said. Landrieu retained about the same number of votes from African-Americans that he earned last month, Rigamer added, but because more black voters went to the polls in the runoff, the lieutenant governor lost ground to Nagin.

"Though Nagin made significant strides among white voters Saturday, he didn’t get close to the more than 80 percent of white support he garnered in the 2002 runoff.

“Speaking to reporters Sunday in Treme, Nagin said that among African-American voters, the tables actually turned this year compared with four years ago, when he grabbed only about 40 percent of the black vote. Nagin added that it’s not farfetched to think that his former white-voter base will return to the fold during his second term.”

I guess you could say that if you torture numbers hard enough, they’ll admit to anything, and you could probably spin the turnout other ways as well. But when my secretary, who is black, tells me before the election that if the white guy wins the election there will be riots, I’m going to wager that race played a bigger role in this election than some people from outside the area might want to believe.

139

And you with the face’s source would be the Potomac Walk section of The Timeshare Beat. At least I got close with Potomac Watch… it’s late!

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And on a closer read, go over your source again:

“Local political scientists credit the Nagin victory to fear. The African-American community was afraid that the white elites had plans to use eminent domain to prevent the poor from returning and then create an affluent white oasis on the flooded lands of the poor. In the end, they voted for the black even though they didn’t care about him. (His first race netted Nagin 40 % of the black vote and 84% of the white) On the other hand, there were enough whites who did not want to associate themselves with the state-wide Landrieu political machine that they also voted for Nagin. Some political scientists feel that the endorsement of Republican Rob Couhig was the edge.”

Emphasis mine. That part of your article is referring to Nagin’s 2002 victory, not this most recent contest.

That said, I wish I could go back and edit out the upthread post in which I refer to my secretary’s comments. She is an individual, not an ambassador for the African American community in New Orleans, and I should viewed her comments then (and now) as speaking for herself only. I should not have posted it - - 'twas a jerkish thing to do.